How C&I Customers Improve Grid Reliability
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I read an interesting Forbes article the other day that explained how commercial and industrial customers ? or C&I customers ? actually can help stabilize the grid. Very intriguing! As an emergency preparedness nerd, anything that can enhance reliability makes my ears perk up, so I thought it would make a great topic for today’s blog post!
How C&I Customers Provide Grid Stability
On the surface, this idea seems pretty counterintuitive. After all, large customers – like big-box retailers, universities, or manufacturing plants to name just a few – often consume more than their fair share of energy. However, that’s really the point – because they are such large energy users, a small voluntary decline during periods of peak demand can make a huge difference. Examples of these small, voluntary declines include auto-adjusting thermostats a few degrees, and dimming non-essential lighting.
Aside from the consumption factor, C&I customers are increasingly utilizing distributed energy resources (DERs) for their electricity needs. By utilizing DERs, large C&I customers can actually help prevent power interruptions or outages. This is because they can quickly shift and reduce their energy use through demand response programs without using “peaker plants,” negatively impacting operations, or inconveniencing employees or customers.
Some large businesses are also partnering with their electric utility to develop so-called virtual power plants (VPPs), which promote the 2-way transfer of electricity to help smooth out demand spikes during extreme events. VPPs are also beneficial to the utility from a cost perspective, as they can reduce the need to build expensive power plants or transmission infrastructure. VPPs can typically be brought online within 12 months, and they can be expanded relatively easily if needed.
The bottom line is that reliability and emergency preparedness go hand-in-hand – anything that improves reliability also helps overall emergency preparedness. For this reason, any opportunity to leverage C&I customers to reduce outages would certainly be welcomed and appreciated!
